


One with the Stars

by kiritila



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Comfort, Crying, Dancing, Hurt, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I hate myself, I'm Sorry, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, M/M, Pidge | Katie Holt Being an Asshole, Sad bois, Shiro (Voltron) is Missing, angsty, hunk and coran don't speak but they're there, space is really nice but not when the galra are trying to kill my children
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 11:10:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14187606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiritila/pseuds/kiritila
Summary: The castle was in ruins.The team were in tatters.





	One with the Stars

**Author's Note:**

> so to clear a few things up so this story isn't confusing 
> 
> this is set in the void between season 2 and season 3, so no shiro or lotor
> 
> it's mostly from lance's perspective, but there are a few flips to keith's perspective - it's easy to tell where
> 
> zarkon is alive (probably spoopy magic) but this isn't directly mentioned
> 
> keith pilots red
> 
> lance pilots blue
> 
> they can't get to the lions, basically most of the doors are locked (including the doors to the hangars)
> 
> enjoy my angst!!

The castle was in ruins.

The team were in tatters.

They had come out on top in the last battle, barely. The castle had taken heavy damage, and now they were stranded, drifting through space - dead in the water. Almost all systems were down. It was broken, and nothing seemed to be able to fix it.

Nobody spoke as the filed onto the bridge, tense and with grim expressions pasted onto their faces. They were tired and worn down - just kids thrust into the middle of a universal crisis. They had families, people who missed them dearly yet had no clue as to where their children were. To them, to the Garrison, they were dead - just another number. Unbeknown to them, their children were defending them - putting their lives on the line to protect Earth. Their planet.

But recently it felt more like a chore than an utmost importance. Shiro's disappearance was taking its toll on all of them. They had all changed since that day; the day that he disappeared into thin air, leaving no trace of their beloved leader.

Pidge barely slept. It was a common known fact that Shiro would find her tucked up into some unimaginably tight spaces around the castle, exhausted from coding for hours on end. At least she slept though. Now, she drove on through the night searching desperately for any movements, any records, any sign of Shiro, refusing to rest for even an hour. It was worrying how much she pushed herself - but she was determined to get Shiro back again.

Hunk became more paranoid. He became over-protective of his friends, terrified that any one of them could suddenly cease to exist. Hunk would constantly check in on them all, making sure they weren't straining themselves. At night he was Pidge's mortal enemy. But every one of them could tell that it wasn't out of kindness. It was out of paranoia - or maybe grief.

Allura and Coran weren't as talkative. They were both close to Shiro before he went missing, and it felt like a there was empty gaping hole next to Allura - a great leader who had guided her so far but then left her at so many crossroads. She needed Shiro.

Lance was the only one who seemed to be coping well, but inside, he was shot to pieces. He was afraid of what had happened to Shiro, and afraid of how his teammates were doing. 

Especially Keith.

Keith seemed to be okay, despite not speaking to the team (it wasn't like he spoke a lot anyway), but he trained even more rigorously, replacing sleep and eating with training. He didn't let anybody see how grief-stricken he was, hiding it all in the confines of his room and the training deck, where the training robots and Keith's walls took the brunt of his anger and anguish. The strong metal was heavily dented with marks of aggrieve. 

The tension was thick and nobody spoke - each paladin was a ticking bomb and it could only take the slightest thing to set them off. Lance sidled up to Keith, annoyance painted on his face. He seemed oblivious to Keith's slumped and weary frame.

"Hey, mullet, what _was_ that? Why'd you suddenly go off on your own? We were busy enough as it was, we didn't need to cover your butt as well! We all know that you were star pilot at the Garrison, their golden boy, but we don't need reminding that every time you make a stupid, reckless decision that could easily get you killed!" 

Lance's volume slowly ascended as Keith cowered away from him. He slipped over to his seat and sat down, bringing his spindly knees to his chest and buried his head in them. Lance's expression suddenly shifted to concern.

\--

Keith knew he messed up. He was the sole reason that the castle was hit. He felt low, especially after Shiro's sudden disappearance, and he really didn't want the boy he loved listing off every mistake he made in that last battle. He already knew them for himself. He used to try with Lance, drop hints about his feelings for him, but he never got anything out of it - apart from being the centre of Lance's harmless jokes. Eventually Keith stopped trying, pulling himself away from all the false senses of hope that Lance might maybe, just _maybe_ , like him back. After a while he deceived himself into believing that the passion he felt for the Cuban boy was unrequited.

Keith raised his head slightly but refused to make eye contact, staring at the glossy Altean floor that was covered in debris and dust.

"I-I'm sorry. Please, I really am, I just..." He trailed off, lost for words, and looked up. He trained his focus on Lance's piercing blue eyes. It almost physically hurt, when he remembered how much he had loved him.

\--

It was in this moment that Lance realised how run-down Keith looked. He was like an empty shell of the strong, raven haired boy that Lance had realised he loved all those months ago. He'd tried to make his feelings obvious through stupid jokes, and even though he was sure that Keith didn't like him back. But, he held onto that glimmer of hope and kept persisting. Though, after Shiro's disappearance it just felt... _wrong_.

Now Lance could see for himself how much Keith had changed. The near-skintight bodysuit that went underneath the paladin armour hung looser on his slender body; it was bunched up at the joints. His large eyes were framed by ominous shadows and his face was thin and oddly pale.

Lance was at a loss for words. Pidge filled the silence, storming in like a fireball. 

"What are you sorry for, Keith? There are so many things! You practically leave us for dead in almost every battle! You know, you're not the only one hurting because of Shiro, yet you're the only one of us that can't seem to get a grip and move on! You're only thinking of yourself, Keith!" Pidge's tone was dripping with malice and her brown eyes were stormy. She turned on her heel and stalked towards Hunk, Allura and Coran. Lance took one last glance at Keith and followed reluctantly.

Lance didn't get involved with the conversation, lost with other thoughts. It wasn't like he had anything valuable to input anyway. He wasn't smart, like Hunk and Pidge, he wasn't a natural leader like Shiro or Allura, and he wasn't wise like Coran. And he didn't have skill like Keith. He was just... Lance. A seventh wheel. A step behind all the others. The replacement. It didn't feel good. Lance sighed and tried to focus on something else, rolling waves, golden sunsets, but it only made him want to go home even more. It made him feel pain - he missed his family so, so much. 

Lance tried not to think of home, and instead tried to think about he could maybe help Keith. It was awful to see how bad of a state Keith was in. Lance just wanted him back. His Keith. _Their_ Keith.

"Lance?" repeated Allura.

"Yeah? Uh, sorry, I spaced out." stuttered Lance, snatched from his thoughts.

"We want you to stay here and try to get the defence drones up and running. With Keith. Can you... handle that? It'll be difficult, since almost all the systems are down, so... don't worry if you can't." Allura smiled weakly, as if she had little faith in Lance. This made him wince slightly, before slipping back into the front that he showed the world. Cocky, brave, ladies man, not vulnerable and terrified of what others thought of him. The false Lance.

"Sure I can! I'm Sharpshooter, remember? I'm like, the best at everything." He winked seductively at Allura, but his suave, toothy grin was forced and his heart wasn't into it anymore. 

It was becoming harder and harder every day to pretend that his love interest was the princess, and not his self-proclaimed rival. It was harder to hide this secret, it took all of Lance's impulse control not to confess everything, to tell Keith everything he wanted to do to with him. Cuddle him, kiss him, twiddle his dark hair. Go on dates, share a meal, watch a movie, go stargazing. Lance wanted to introduce Keith to his family, show them how much the other boy really meant to him. But, in the middle of space, he knew none of that was possible. They were fighting a war, and Keith didn't love Lance anyway. 

Suddenly, a dark shadow blocked the soft glow of small sun and the Altean alarms began to blare. Everyone looked towards the source, but recoiled in horror. Keith jumped up defensively, fear expressed on his face instead of anger.

The looming frame of Zarkon's main ship, repaired and reinforced. Everyone stood still, transfixed on the huge, ion cannon aimed directly at the castle; a blip in comparison to the hulking, dark Galra ship.

Allura spring into action, pale and hands shaking violently with paranoia. She directed Hunk and Coran to the control room, and Pidge to the engine room. 

"Please hurry paladins!" she yelled, her voice strained and distressed "You two must try and get the defence drones working! With the crystal destroyed, it's highly unlikely you will, but I have faith in you two! Without the castle's defences and Voltron, we are defenceless! You _have_ to try!" she sprinted out of the room in pursuit of Pidge, desperate to protect her paladins. Allura had already lost so much. She couldn't lose her new family too.

Lance slid over to his seat and frantically opened his display, pressing desperately at foreign buttons in the hope that they would escape. Nothing was responding, throwing angry splashes of red in Lance's face as each press of a button led to an error, a reminder of their failures. He glanced over at Keith for a second, who was still stood, staring in despair at Zarkon's ship. 

"What the hell are you doing? We're gonna die if you don't help!" Lance screamed at the top of his voice, fat tears beginning to stream down his freckled cheeks. He already knew that his attempts to get the drones working were futile, nothing was working and Lance wasn't a genius. Even he knew that the systems weren't going to respond, maybe even a tech nut like Hunk or Pidge couldn't figure this out. Maybe they could. Maybe it was just Lance. Stupid, incompetent Lance.

"KEITH!"

"The cannon, it's - it's charging." Keith croaked. Lance shakily stood up, staggering over to Keith while trying to catch a glimpse of the terrifying cannon. They watched in silence as the soft purple glow grew brighter. 

All of a sudden Keith reached out and grabbed Lance's hand, his thumb gently rubbing against the soft palm of the Cuban boy's hand.

Confused, he turned to stare at Keith. What was this, a sign of the inevitable? Lance knew that they were going to die; he was trying not to think about it. He watched intently as the other boy displayed a small smile, suddenly realising that the Keith that he fell in love with was still in love with was still in there. A slight, warm blush spread across his tan, freckled cheeks.

\--

"Lance," Keith began, feeling tears well up at the sight of him. He loved every single detail on the Cuban boy's face, and wanted to preserve the memory of such a heavenly sight in case these were his final moments with him. 

Brilliant blue eyes that struck love and hope into the hearts of many, and showed Lance's passion for protecting others and his selfless, and benevolent attitude. Keith could see the calm ocean that Lance spoke so lovingly of in them, strong and alluring. Smooth tan skin and a slightly upturned nose littered with small dark freckles that mimicked the constellations that gave Lance comfort in difficult times. Perfect plump lips that Keith wanted to press his own into, but had envisioned he never would. He took a deep breath and opened his mouth, telling himself that if Lance hated him it wouldn't matter, because soon it would all be over. 

It'd still hurt, though.

"I can't keep this a secret anymore. I love you. A lot. I have for a while. I mean, who wouldn't? You're perfect! I didn't tell you because, well, you've made it pretty obvious you don't, you know, feel the same w-mmngh!" Keith was cut short when he felt soft warm lips meet his. They were round, locking perfectly with his own. Lance's hand gently wrenched away from Keith's, taking his hands by the wrists and slowly guiding them so that they rested on Lance's hips. Their tender kiss didn't deepen, yet it got more loving as every second passed.

\--

Eventually, Lance broke away and rested his forehead on Keith's. He was grinning, cheeks dusted lightly pink. He stared into Keith's eyes, dark purple rings framed by long dark lashes and porcelain skin. Lance could have sworn Keith's eyes contained a million stars - they shone bright just like them. They could've contained bursting nebulae, galaxies, if not all of space, but Lance couldn't tell. They were almost alike.

"I love you so, so much, Keith, always remember that." Lance whispered.

The glow around them grew brighter, clashing with the shocking red of the alarms. Just then, Lance broke away. He moved one hand to rest on Keith's shoulder, and moved the other to cradle the small of his back. Then, he pulled him into the centre of the bridge, where littering the open floor were small chunks of dull Balmeran crystal. 

"Keith, can I... have this dance?"

Tears started to threaten Keith again, and he had to fight every fibre in his body to hold them back.

"O-Of course."

And so, the red and blue paladins began to dance, the Altean alarms that had screamed in their ears becoming almost... melodic, soothing. They took it slow, as if it was some sort of final comfort for them, a reassurance that they would be okay. The purple glow was no longer warm and hazy; it was angry and blazing.

As they moved, they edged closer to one another, until Lance's forehead rested on Keith's once more. Keith couldn't hold the tears back anymore. They flowed freely down his face, so Lance moved a hand to gently brush them away with his thumb. 

Now Lance couldn't contain them either. The tears welled up as he stifled a sob, aware that his worst fears were unfolding right in front of him. 

Just then, they stopped moving, and Lance tenderly cupped Keith's jaw between both hands. He wished for more time with Keith, wished for a miracle, an uneasiness settling in the pit of his stomach as he did so.

"At least we made it to space, right, Keith? That's more than what most humans have done." breathed Lance, staring lovingly into Keith's eyes.

"Yeah..."

3, 2, 1.

The cannon fired, just as Keith pressed one final kiss to Lance's lips.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!
> 
> sorry for leaving it on a cliffhanger, but i want to leave the ending open to interpretation.
> 
> i've had this in the works for months, and i hated myself for even planning this.
> 
> check out my social medias! (they're trash please don't):
> 
> my twitter: @rainylance  
> my tumblr: @it-was-strictly-planetonic  
> my amino (voltron, klance, hamilton): @planetonic
> 
> everything on here is also posted on my wattpad too, which seems to hate me a little less: @_planetonic


End file.
